Employees at an Apple Store in Towson, Maryland have set a date for their union election. Workers at the Towson Town Center location will vote in person over four days, starting on June 15th.
The organizers call themselves Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (AppleCore). They’re aiming to unionize with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the group said “a solid majority” of staff supports the union drive. They said they are organizing “because of a deep love of our role as workers within the company and out of care for the company itself.” They want “access to rights that we do not currently have” and for Apple to apply the same neutrality agreements it has with suppliers to workers, “so that as employees we can obtain our rights to information and collective bargaining that the law affords us through unionization.”
They will be the second group of Apple Store workers to stage a union election. Those at the Cumberland Mall location in Atlanta will vote in early June on whether to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
Employees at Apple Stores other than the Towson and Atlanta locations are conducting union drives as well. Workers at the Grand Central Terminal store in New York City have been collecting signatures for a union vote.
While Apple has agreed to the elections in Maryland and Georgia, the company is reportedly fighting unionization efforts. It’s said to have hired the same anti-union law firm as Starbucks. The company has also reportedly used anti-union talking points in pre-shift meetings at some locations. This week, workers at two stores accused Apple of union busting in Unfair Labor Practice filings.
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